AUSTRALIA are ruing not attempting to intimidate India earlier in the series after a pumped-up David Warner yesterday waged a war of words with Ravindra Jadeja in the fourth Test.

At stumps on day two, India are 8-266 in reply to Australia's 262, a lead of just four runs, after spinner Nathan Lyon (5-94) routed the top-order to give the tourists a sniff of victory in the Delhi dead-rubber.

Opener Ed Cowan delivered the first spark of Australian aggression when he pumped his fists repeatedly after Lyon removed Virat Kohli (1) to leave India 2-114.

Tensions then ignited in the final session, with Warner having a verbal joust with Jadeja, who subsequently approached the umpires.

The officials summoned skipper Shane Watson, who then made a bee-line for Warner in a bid to settle the feisty Australian opener.

Indian captain MS Dhoni, who was out in the middle batting, was also a party to proceedings.

It was the first real sign of overt aggression in this series from Australia, who may have been reluctant to fan embers of hostility following the infamous Monkeygate racial spat with India in 2007-08.

But Lyon later conceded the tourists should have tried to unsettle the home side well before they crashed to a 3-0 deficit.

"I think we do wish that we did do it earlier," he said. "That's a way that Australia plays its best cricket, when we're putting the contest to the opposition.

"And no matter who the opposition is, I think it works well."

Asked what was said on the field between Warner and Jadeja, Lyon said with a wry grin: "What happens on the field, stays on the field. Australia plays cricket very hard. We play hard but fair. We know where the line is and we don't go over it.

"We push it to the limit and that's the way we play our best cricket. That's probably something we haven't done over the last three Test matches and I think we saw a reward for putting India under a bit of pressure."

When the dust settled, Dhoni departed quickly, hitting a James Pattinson delivery to Watson at mid-wicket to leave India in trouble at 6-210.

Lyon said later the brief moment of tension may have built pressure on Dhoni.

"Yeah there was definitely a lead-up (to his dismissal)," he said. "I thought all bowlers bowled well together, we spoke about that before the game that we need to bowl in partnerships, we need to have that aggression, we need to get in the contest and that led to every wicket that fell out there.

"That was how it was with the conflict that went out there in the middle. The aggression that was going on ... Dhoni fell away to Patto."

Lyon said Australia's more combative approach yesterday had nothing to do with Watson taking over as captain following Michael Clarke's withdrawal with a back injury.

"Definitely not. Unfortunately Michael Clarke was unable to play this game," he said. "We all know how good Michael is as a leader.

"He's the best captain I've ever played under and Shane is not far behind that."

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